The Labor enquirer., 1887-04-16
An Important Communication
From the Oregon In
ternational.
ACTION NOW TO BIZ TAKEN.
The Various Socialistic Bsdies Asked
to..Take Immediate Action On
the Natter.

II is prop6ssd to bring within the folds
of one federation the various Socialistic
organizations Of the continent, in order that
they may ascertain precisely the points
upon which they agree; settle If possible
the points upon which they at present dis
agree;- and move forward shoulder to
shoulder to the abolition of industrial
slavery. From Portland, Oregon, We send
the following suggestions, hoping that
they may be carefully weighed, in CON-
junction with the suggestions from other
towns and states, and that the wisest ooun-
sells may be those ultimately adopted: y
We consider that an affair Of this mag
nitude cannot possibly be managed in So
cret, and that as it will inevitably become
matter of public discussion the greater
the publicity given to it the better. We
consider therefore that not only should
the svowedly Socislistic organs be espe-
cially invited to discuss this matter, but
that the press generally-and especially
the country press, which is constantly
short of matter, and anxious for Z senss-
tion-should be utilized to the fullest ex-
tent possible. To accomplish this we sug-
gest:
(a) That the editor of the Denver LABOR
ESQu1REs, who is well acquainted win the
labor movement throughout the country,
select the name of some one person at
least in each state and territory.
(b) That the person so selected be
charged with the duty of compiling COM
plets list Of the newspapers in his partic-
ular state or territory, and of forming q
correspondence committee.
(c) That ed eh correspondence commit
tee be charged with the duty Of keeping
the press in It's particular state or terri
tory thoIU-slE,s informed of the attempt
being made to oonsolidas4 ~-r strength.
(d) And we further suggest that eass.
committee appoint a secretary whose duty
it shall be 10 forward to the avowedly So
cin6stic orgahs weekly reports Of progress,
that those Interested in this movement
may be kept continuously informed of
what is being done.
Tn IN hin kh hooA ouunookinpc mo 1acira
to express our conviction that as party
we are not sufficiently making use of the
opport0ities offered us by the fact that
this is pre-eminently the country of news
papers, and that we hayea large number
of Socialists who are fully capable of pre-
senting our ideas to the public through
the press. The experience of nearly all
labor papers is that they have sent to
them far more manuscript than they can
possibly publish. A very small exercise
of management, and of cooperation, and
judicious division of labor, would enable
us to cover nearly the whole field Of Amer
ican journalism. The large city papers are
invariably the mouthpieces of monopoly,
but this is not so much the case with the
country press.
II. 4
We believe that there are very many
labor organizations that will openly avow
themselves Socialistic, and indeed we con-
slider that the ultimate aim of all.labor or
ganizations is to enable the members to
get absolute control of the industries in
which they are engaged-an idea essen
TALLY Socialistic. 1t will mark great in
tellectual advance when the trades unions
clearly see this, and q great moral ad-
vance when they frankly acknowledge it.
1t is therefore highly desirable to lay the
whole of this matter fairly before them.
and get if possible definite declaration
of where they stand. This in our opinion
specially applies to the Knights Of Labor
whose declaration Of principles pledges
them at least to State Socialism. Wesug-
gest therefore:
la) That some one person in each state
and territory be selected. as before, by
the editor Of the Denver LABOR ENoU1RER,
and that he be charged with the duty Of
forming in his particular state or territory
a propaganda committee, whose duty it
shall be to see that the whole of this mat
ter is laid clearly before the various labor
organizations either by writing or by word
Of mouth.